Kroger grocery stores is removing cut cantaloupe products from locations in four states, but other Kroger stores may soon be joining in. The grocery retailer’s removal of cut cantaloupe products from stores in Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas and Kentucky was prompted by a recall issued by Burch Farms in North Carolina for possible Listeria contamination. But cantaloupes produced in southwestern Indiana are also being recalled as they have been identified as the source of a Salmonella outbreak that has sickened 141 people in 20 states, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Friday.
“It’s unbelievable that better traceback measures are not in place, especially after the deadly cantaloupe Listeria outbreak last year,” said Attorney Fred Pritzker, food safety advocate and founding partner of PritzkerOlsen, a national food safety law firm that represents people sickened by cantaloupe.
Other retailers will remove or have already removed potentially tainted cantaloupes from their store shelves, but at this point it’s unclear where any of these melons are being sold. The Burch recall was initially announced at the beginning of this month. It has been expanded and amended but a retail distribution list for the melons, which now includes all of the cantaloupe and honeydew produced during this growing season, has not been released. What’s more, the Burch honeydew were sold with no identifying stickers on them.
The Burch Farms Listeria recall includes all cantaloupe and honeydew melon produced by the farm during this growing season. The recalled products from Kroger stores include: cantaloupe slices, **4472; cantaloupe cube cup small random weight, **4473; cantaloupe half random weight, **4368; cantaloupe cube cup small, **4473; cantaloupe cube cut large random weight,*4358; cantaloupe athena east. 120 ea, cantaloupe half, **4368; melon mixed cube jumbo random weight, **54830; cantaloupe quarter **4361; cantaloupe cube cup large, **4358; cantaloupe slices random weight, **4472, melon mixed fruit bowl, random weight, **54254; melon mixed fruit cup random weight,**54253; melon mixed fruit cup random weight, **54252; melon mixed cube cup large random weight, **4363; melon mixed cube cup small random weight, **54878 and melon mixed cube cup large, **4363.
